LAINGSBURG

There’s little reason to stop in Laingsburg on the N1, other than to fill the tank, order a bacon and egg toasted sandwich, and take note of the lampposts showing the highwater mark during the devastating flood of ’81, in which 104 people died. Laingsburg has long since risen from the damp and been restored to its former lacklustre glory. As it did before the flood, the town serves largely as a pitstop for longhaul truckers and travellers girding their loins for the mind-numbing stretch to eternity in the north, with the usual huddle of service stations and greasy outlets vying side by side for your custom.

Things To Do
  • First thing we reckon you do on arrival in Laingsburg is find the Dutch Reformed Church and pay your respects to the merciful Gods of rain and sunshine. Here’s why. Laingsburg was established in 1880. Virtually on the dot one hundred years later, a flood flattens the place - in a town that receives an average rainfall of 175mm. The Dutch Reformed Church is one of very few buildings left standing. Coincidence? I think not, friends.
     
  • About 12km north of the town you’ll find an Anglo Boer War blockhouse, largely intact and one of the best examples of its kind – built by the British in 1901 to guard the bridge over the Geelbek River. 
     
  • The idiosyncratic village of Matjiesfontein can be found 27km south of Laingsburg. A fragment of Victorian England frozen in time, the entire village is a national monument.
     
  • We hear the family-owned Laingsburg Country Hotel (tel 023-551 1009) is the best place for Karoo lamb and other wholesome food. 
     
  • Having never spent any length of time in Laingsburg and then only to organise an insurance policy, we are not quite sure what else to suggest you do here. As you may well have noticed by the drivel above.